Traditional infant clothing can become costly since newborn babies grow rapidly and garments are outgrown in only a couple of weeks. Clothing can be reused. However, stains from newborns are a common problem, resulting in garments which are unsightly.
Laundering traditional infant clothing may be costly and time consuming. Special soaps and fabric softeners must be used as well as extra rinse cycles to thoroughly clean infant clothing. Quite often, these products can irritate a baby's delicate skin. Disposable infant hospital gowns are a smaller version of adult type hospital gowns and are made with rough fabric with questionable means to secure them to infants. As such, they do not is allow for proper fit, any amount of extended use, protection, warmth or attractiveness. Hence, they are not serviceable for daily use.
A number of prior art references disclose disposable type garments. However, all have not been successfully adapted for use with infant wear, or have been applied only in specialized (e.g., neonatal) applications.
Howsden U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,917, issued Apr. 22, 1997, discloses an infant care garment. The garment is formed essentially as a sack with arm openings for the infant. Velcro.RTM. closures close the garment in the back, up the middle, and along he arms. The garment is designed particularly for neonatal intensive care use.
Schneider U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,095, issued Mar. 18, 1997, discloses a multi-function baby wrap. This reference is relevant to the extent that it appears to show a technique for making an infant garment from a single sheet with a minimum of labor. The wrap is designed to be used with a car seat or a baby stroller to warm the child. The wrap can be wrapped around the child without having to disturb or remove the child from a baby seat or stroller.
Mathis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,653, issued Oct. 28, 1997, discloses a surgical gown cuff and method of making the same. This reference is relevant to the extent that it teaches making disposable surgical gowns.
Magnusen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,406, issued Jul. 14, 1992, discloses an infant garment with crossed over arm position sleeves. This appears to be a straight jacket designed for infants (see FIGS. 1-5). The garment as disclosed is made of a soft polyester material and secured with Velcro.RTM..
Pajunen U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,115, issued Jun. 5, 1990, discloses plastic clothing and a method of fabrication. The plastic clothing in Pajunen is made on a roll much like a roll of plastic film. Individual garments, gloves, and the like may be torn off at perforations. This reference is relevant to the extent that it shows the use of plastic welding techniques to form seams in clothing and also because the overall concept of disposable clothing.